


The Kiss of Photons

by LtLime23



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Cute, F/F, Fluff, Love, Snow, Soulmates, Stars, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 06:04:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13117590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtLime23/pseuds/LtLime23
Summary: Not just a challenge but also a privilege to write and gift this work to a writer whose work has inspired my own.  A formidable talent to satisfy, I hope I achieve the warm fuzzy feeling I was aiming for.Merry Christmas JoKing611





	The Kiss of Photons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Joking611](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joking611/gifts).



> Not just a challenge but also a privilege to write and gift this work to a writer whose work has inspired my own. A formidable talent to satisfy, I hope I achieve the warm fuzzy feeling I was aiming for.
> 
> Merry Christmas JoKing611

The deceleration of the corvette as it exited the mass relay brought Shepard back to herself.  She’d been lost in the rolling rhythms of prose and stanza as she worked her way through a collection of Turian poetry.  Her mind pulling at the threads of considering how an elegant call and answer was buried in the lines.  Missed when read as text on a page but clear to the listener when spoken in soft dual harmonics.  She thought back to her schooling and settled on the notion that Shakespeare’s sonnets had been written with the sole purpose of being performed by a Turian.

Snapping the book closed, Shepard let her gaze wander to the window, the arc of the ship pulling through the shadow of a small planet.  The crescent of starlight hitting her cheek as the pilot adjusted course.  Sarah smiled to herself, glancing across to her travelling companion, who despite appearing to be engrossed in her own reading, was spying on Shepard.  It was the slight quiver in the small muscles of Liara’s jaw that gave her away as she fought to bite her tongue against a smile.  Shepard bit her lower lip, shaking her head slightly.  It didn’t matter how many star systems she travelled to, the photons landing on her skin, those tiny packets of energy kissing her cheek.  The ones from Sol always felt different, they always felt like home.

“Mars,” Shepard stated.  Liara looked up.

“That’s your one guess?  Mars?”

Sarah considered her musings for a moment, “yes, Mars.  I know you had a brochure come through for that isolated spa retreat in the Rimac crater,” Shepard paused, trying to read Liara’s poker face, “plus you said you wanted somewhere central for all the girls to come to during vacations, this might be a trial.”

Liara met Shepard with a slightly downtrodden expression, Sarah instantly feeling bad for having inadvertently spoilt her bondmate’s grand reveal.  Shepard felt her own features fall, about to reach for the delicate blue hands that were now fiddling with the hem of a sleeve.

The sound of soft laughter shot up Shepard’s spine, those same blue fingers now covered the quivering lips of a smiling Asari.

“I’m sorry my love, I’m not laughing at you, honest.”

Shepard was sure her bondmate was, indeed, laughing at her, Liara continued through her stifled giggles, “the look on your face though.”

Straightening up Sarah pushed back her shoulders, flicking her hair out of her eyes and huffing slightly.  Falling into tense silence both women eyed one another across the corvette.  It was only a matter of moments before the twinkle that lingered in both their eyes sent them both crumbling forward into a fit of laughter.  Liara stood, smoothing her hands over her clothing before taking the two steps across the ship and perching on Shepard’s lap.  Sarah’s arms automatically taking their place around Liara’s waist, a blue hand finding the soft feathers of hair at the base of Shepard’s neck.

“So, not Mars then?”  Shepard said with a grin, leaning up to place a soft kiss on Liara’s jawline.

“No, not Mars, full marks though I did consider it.”

“Where then?  You know I can’t stand the orbital getaways of Venus.”

Liara dropped her head so her lips brushed the sensitive join of Shepard’s ear, smiling at the shiver that ran through her bondmate as she whispered, “Akaslompolo.”

\- - -

Shepard stamped her feet into the snowshoes in front of her, keeping her balance with two poles.  Once clipped in she took a breath, lungs instantly chilling with the cold, dry air.  A hesitation before exhaling, the stillness and silence total.

The corvette had dropped the pair on the local landing pad, their ship the only one due in.  An effective ground team had whisked away their luggage on skidoos, and the ship quickly taken its leave.  The pair stood alone.  All around them white, the sun long since fading to leave the sky a bottomless abyss of velvety blackness.  Light spilled from the small clutch of buildings roughly three kilometres in front of them, shards basking the flat openness in a warm glow.  The tall trees that stood guard around the perimeter silent and still.  Towering sculptures of snow, it was hard to believe a trunk filled with viscous sap, roots spreading far and wide, hid underneath the thick blanket of crystals.

“What did you say this place was called?”  Shepard breathed, not wanting to disturb the silence.  A cloud of vapour rising with her words.  Sarah let her eyes travel upwards to the fell that sat bulbous and soft over the village.  She followed the weaving snake of lamp rigs that lit the trails orange.  A gasp as two white specks wove their way in sweeping arcs down the open hillside, turning three, four, five times, before being lost to the treeline.

“Akaslompolo,” Liara muttered, double checking the directions on her omni-tool, signalling for Shepard to follow her.  The pair taking steady footsteps through the soft snow.  Liara continued, “we are well North of the Arctic circle in what was known as Finnish Lapland before the Nordic bloc formed in 2097, it roughly translates to something about reindeer by the lake at the bottom of the fell.”

Shepard smiled as she buried her chin in the collar of her jacket, loving the tidbits of information, facts and figures Liara would offer wherever they travelled to. 

“Where’s the lake?”  Shepard asked, brow furrowing.

Liara looked over her shoulder, the soft light making the scales on her crest dance and shimmer like the flakes of snow.

“We’re on it.” 

Shepard felt momentarily horrified, holding one foot off the ground as though scared to take the next step.  Liara couldn’t hide her smile, “honestly Sarah!  It’s minus thirty-two, the lake has been frozen for months now, look,” Liara brought up her omni-tool scanning the area at her feet.  “The ice is seventy-eight centimetres thick, we’ve just landed a ship on it, I think, despite the gravitas you bestow upon your quads, you aren’t going to break the ice.”

Shepard rolled her eyes, “way to make a girl feel good about herself,” she said with a smile.

Following Liara’s footsteps the pair fell into comfortable silence as they moved steadily off the wide expanse of the lake to the edge of the forest.  The firs rising from the deep drifts of snow to arch above them, spiking into the sky.  Blocking out the light from the village the darkness engulfed them, small fairy lights the only guide to the trail.  Paths large and small crossed through the woodland, ancient signs pointing to various places with tongue twisters of names.

“This place is beautiful,” Shepard breathed.

Liara turned to Sarah, leaning across the distance of their snowshoes to place a cool kiss to Shepard’s lips.  “I thought, with how hectic the Citadel has been and the goings on at the House that we could both rather use some, alone time.”

“Have I told you about your exquisite decision-making skills Dr T’Soni?”  Shepard hushed, her voice dropping at the press of Liara’s lips.

“I have my moments,” Liara replied, “there is nothing here except beautiful forests, a cute little cabin just for two, and over three hundred kilometres of cross country ski trails.”  Not for the first time Shepard caught the twinkle of mischief in Liara’s eye, she didn’t have to wait long before Liara spoke again, “I thought even with your woeful co-ordination you’d manage to at least shuffle along.”

\- - -

Turning into the trees, Liara paced carefully, letting out a small sigh of relief as the snow hardened and the pair found themselves outside a small cabin.  A press of a thumb and the door unlocked, the cheerful glow of the internal lamps welcoming them inside.

Small but perfectly formed the open plan living space centred around a fireplace.  Stripping off their outer layers Liara headed up to the mezzanine to check their luggage had arrived safely.  Shepard, once again, inhaled the stillness, filling her lungs with calm.  Smiling as she realised her mind was restful for the first time in months.  The red embers shimmering in the fireplace threw sparks into the air as Sarah carefully offered another log to their hot embrace. 

“Come up,” Liara called softly, forearms resting on the wooden balustrade as she observed the tension ebbing out of her bondmate, exactly as she’d hoped.  Sarah held Liara’s gaze as she carefully climbed the stairs, their creak and the gentle growl of the fire the only sound.  Liara reached for Shepard, long fingers finding a pale wrist, a reminder of Sarah’s fragility.  A slight tug and Shepard followed Liara towards the low expanse of duvet and pillows.

Side by side, fingers entwined Liara reached up to press a button.  They each held their breath as the roof section retracted to reveal a large skylight.  Dimming the lights, Liara curled herself into Shepard’s side, a leg washed up against hips, a palm flat against Sarah’s heart.  Shepard calmed her breathing as her eyes adjusted, marvelling at the steady unveiling of the galaxy above her head.  Hundreds of thousands of stars sharpening into view.

“We have a good chance of seeing the aurora,” Liara muttered, lost in the calm of Shepard, her bondmate’s pulse echoing through her fingers.

Shepard let her mind drift to the photon that made her feel at home.  Imagined them skimming the atmosphere, dancing like fools, shedding themselves in a fit of green hues.  Cascading, swirling in currents Lunar would never exert her tides upon.  How something so simple as a collision could result in something so beautiful.

Sarah looked down at the peaceful form of Liara, lips parted, head heavy with the pull of sleep.  She thought back to the collision of the pair of them, an unlikely crossing of paths, two atoms in the ether.  Shepard smiled to herself.  Unlike the aurora, Liara was anything but simple in her beauty, a complex creature full of awe and wonder, mystery, an enigma.  Shepard leant forward, pressing a kiss to Liara’s crest, speaking her truth in such a whisper that not even the walls could hear.  The subtle grip of finger tips against her chest told Shepard all she needed to know.  Liara loved her too.


End file.
